June 27, 2003
Cincinnati Enquirer

Growing Contractor Handling the Big Jobs

Laura Baverman

Evans N. Nwankwo, president of Megen Construction Co., stands in front of Great American Ball Park. Megen Construction Co. was part of the management team for the ballpark.

A friend once told Evans Nwankwo, president and owner of Megen Construction Co. Inc., that "having a business is like having a child. Once they are born, you really can't stifle their growth."

But Nwankwo didn't really believe that until 1998, when he was awarded his first construction management contract with Hamilton County.

For the first five years of his business, Nwankwo, a Nigerian immigrant, worked as an independent contractor out of the basement of his home. He regularly bid on large construction projects, but because of his low bonding capacity, he often could only secure the smaller ones.

In 1998, he told himself "quit banging your head against the wall." He decided to market his company as construction management, a position in which a certain level of bonding was not necessary, to Hamilton County, which was looking for a more diverse work force. The same year, he secured his first project with the county, an $11.6 million county office building on William Howard Taft Road.

"In a startup business, you're always trying to figure out the best angle or niche," Nwankwo said. "I think that what we tried to do was understand the work that was available. We targeted those projects and went after them."

According to Nwankwo, the project began a "love affair" between his company and the county. That was the start to five years of success representing 300 percent growth for the company, he said.

Megen has completed a project every year for the county since 1998. Most recently, the company served as program manager for the Great American Ball Park. Responsibilities included hiring the design and construction teams and managing the budget.

Those large jobs with the county have helped the company secure projects from the city and in the private sector. Some of Megen's most notable projects include the renovation of the Tyler Davidson fountain on Fountain Square, downtown; construction of John Mellencamp's estate in Bloomington, Ind.; renovation of the YWCA headquarters, downtown; and the renovation of the Kroger grocery story on Vine Street in Over-the-Rhine. Megen now serves as the construction manager for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on the riverfront.

As a small, minority-owned business, Megen attributed a significant amount of its success to continued efforts by Hamilton County to diversify the companies it contracts with.

Five years ago, in the wake of the riverfront development proposals, Hamilton County founded the Office of Small, Minority and Female Business Development to promote small-business participation in county projects.

Working alongside Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international planning, engineering, construction management and operations firm, more than 15,000 small businesses in the Tristate area were notified about the opportunities to bid on the riverfront projects as well as large projects of Parsons' other clients.

As a result, small-business contractors for the ballpark represented 25.7 percent of the work force, the office reported. According to Parsons Brinckerhoff, the work force for the Freedom Center garage, another Hamilton County project, was 40 percent small business.

"All through these projects, we were looking for ways to try to design and package the work in some way that the small-business community can bid on them," said Fred Craig, regional vice president of Parsons.

Often, the project managers would split up the projects in a way that small businesses could just bid on the part or the project they could do on scheduled within a certain cost.

Nwankwo noticed that both entities encouraged his company to reach out to small business as well. "It's difficult to reach out to every minority company but if you reach out to significant minority companies, they'll reach out," he said.

Educating small business

This philosophy has extended into his business practice. Megen subcontracted 67 percent of the Kroger project to minority and female businesses.

Besides notifying businesses of bid opportunities, the county's small business office has also worked to educate small businesses about how to secure a contract with the county.

Director Bernice Walker organizes events such as last Thursday's "Face to Face Forum" to allow businesses to talk with purchasing representatives from county offices about products or services they need.

"It's the county's way of helping people who are trying to get business started. It shows that they care about what we do," said Jimmie Walker, owner of J&R Marketing.

Thursday's forum was her second. She said the forums have given her good leads with the county as well as the opportunity to network with other small businesses.

John Dreves, co-owner of Impact Services Inc., a environmental and industrial maintenance company founded in August, said he enjoyed the forum because it embraced new companies who have expertise in their field but don't have a long company history.

Waughney Yarrell, founder and president of Alpha Designs Ltd., has secured multiple contracts with the county since attending his first forum in November 2002. "I think the county is the easiest government to do business with. They don't have any roadblocks," Yarrell said. The county does not require companies to be certified or have a proof of income. They can do business with the companies they like, he said. "They seem to be the government that is most aggressively seeking small businesses," he said.

While the county has spearheaded many efforts to help small businesses, the City of Cincinnati has made strides as well.

Changing Practices

Tuesday night, Hamilton County, the City of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Public Schools co-sponsored a workshop for individuals interested in forming limited liability corporations. It was the first collaborative event of the small business programs of each entity.

The city has also reformed its Small Business Enterprise Program (SBE) since April 1, said Alicia Townsend, the division manager of the small business division of the Office of Contract Compliance.

Some of the changes include:

• All contracts below $5,000 must be awarded to SBE businesses.
• Projects over $100,000 now require at least 20 percent SBE participation.
• A nondiscrimination program requires goals for minority and female business percentages for projects to be the same as the demographics of these businesses in the region.
• A Small Business Voiceline (352-2971) was formed to provide immediate assistance to small businesses.
• Two new loans for small businesses were approved April 30. The Micro City fund provides up to $35,000 loans. The Grow Cincinnati fund provides up to $1 million loans.

  When the city's Equal Business Opportunity Program was challenged in 1998, a court recommended that the City Council conduct a study to determine whether there was a disparity between the number of qualified minority and female businesses willing and able to perform a service and the number actually performing services for the city.

  The program changes came as a result of the disparity study, completed in December, which found the city was underutilizing minority and female firms.

  © The Cincinnati Enquirer, 2003